Mughal Carpet, Agra

As part of our Golden Triangle tour with private driver and tour guides, we were brought to a couple of shops and while we know the routine in these commission, government supported, shops, we were truly blown away by the quality, service, and attention given to us by Imran Khan and his team. They had no problem entertaining our wish to see nearly every pattern and color imaginable after showing us the persian rug making demonstration and letting us tie in a few knots. The look and feel of their rugs are truly incredible and at prices that are fractions of what you would find in the states or even in the middle east where their craft originates from. The Khan family has been doing this a long time, and their attention to detail and desire to make friends more than just another business deal was a very nice touch. After more than an hour or deliberations we decided on a beautiful 6’x9’ with a traditional pattern. Instead of having it shipped home, Imran told us he could package the rug in plastic and tie it up so small that we would have no problem checking it on our flights home, saving us the cost and danger of international shipping and customs. He even hand delivered the rug to the Delhi Airport before our flight so we didn’t have to take the rug with us around India. We couldn’t be happier with our rug and know we have made a friend for life in the rug business with whom we will be placing many more orders with!

This place is fine, but the prices they told us are at least 4x what they should be. Please please please haggle. They'll make it sound like they don't have a ton of wiggle room and that's because if it's 70% of asking price or higher whoever brought you there gets a commission. I've ended up here 3 times with different groups always because the auto driver wants to and although the products are fine, it's a bit depressing to watch people pay so much more than they should. I can't comment on shipping, I've never done it but nor have I bought anything over 2500 INR. Also once you think you've hit rock bottom then ask for a bit more off because you'll pay with cash instead of credit. For reference the one rug I've actually bought was supposedly "rs 13000" but we only paid rs 2500 cash in the end for it after 15 minutes of noncommittal back and forth.